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Introduction Hodgkin's disease is highly curable by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, but refractory disease or early relapses are rarely cured by conventional salvage therapy. Case presentation We report a case of a 20-year-old Caucasian man, with a biopsy-proven intrapulmonary relapse of Hodgkin's disease, for whom salvage chemotherapy was administered. During salvage chemotherapy intense increased F18-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake was noticed in multiple lymph nodes and diffuse increased splenic uptake, suggesting chemotherapyrefractory disease. However, additional information obtained from the patient revealed he recently had met his first girlfriend. An asymptomatic primary Epstein-Barr virus infection was considered proven. Conclusions Interim F18-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography is a strong prognostic factor for advanced Hodgkin's and may better identify those patients needing intensified chemotherapy. Related to the nonspecificity of F18-fluorodeoxyglucose, clinical awareness of the potential interference of intercurrent asymptomatic viral infections with treatment and remission status monitoring continues to be important in the interpretation of equivocal medical imaging results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Hodgkin's disease is highly curable by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, but refractory disease or early relapses are rarely cured by conventional salvage therapy.Case Presentation: We report a case of a 20-year-old Caucasian man, with a biopsy-proven intrapulmonary relapse of Hodgkin's disease, for whom salvage chemotherapy was administered. During salvage chemotherapy intense increased F18-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake was noticed in multiple lymph nodes and diffuse increased splenic uptake, suggesting chemotherapy-refractory disease. However, additional information obtained from the patient revealed he recently had met his first girlfriend. An asymptomatic primary Epstein-Barr virus infection was considered proven.Conclusions: Interim F18-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography is a strong prognostic factor for advanced Hodgkin's and may better identify those patients needing intensified chemotherapy. Related to the nonspecificity of F18-fluorodeoxyglucose, clinical awareness of the potential interference of intercurrent asymptomatic viral infections with treatment and remission status monitoring continues to be important in the interpretation of equivocal medical imaging results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]